Jaune Arc, Amateur Warlock
by Ree-Dur
Summary: Jaune Arc, a twelve year old boy who lived in a sleepy village, discovered a strange book that belonged to an ancestor of his. It didn't have a title, but the first line was: 'I was Jeanne Arc, I am a Witch and this is my Grimoire.'


Once upon a time, in a small village, a young child had a dream.

This young child was Jaune Arc, he was only twelve years old, he had seven wonderful sisters, and two loving parents.

But in his small village, surrounded by a loving family, something plagued Jaune, a dream, a dream to be a warrior, a hero.

* * *

A thundering roar shook the ground, and the bones of the armour clad Knight.

Or it would've, if that Knight wasn't Jaune Arc.

Jaune stared straight at the giant scaly monster, his gaze never leaving the Dragon.

The Dragon had kidnapped a Princess and burned down a village.

Jaune had come to put an end to this beast's rampage, he was going to slay the Dragon.

It was a tough battle of fire and strength, of claws and swords, but Jaune had won.

He had defeated the Dragon, now everyone was safe.

The whole Kingdom had gathered around Jaune and the corpse of the Dragon.

"Jaune! Jaune! Jaune! Jaune!" They cheered and chanted.

Jaune waved at everyone, he didn't do this for the fame, but it was still nice.

"Jaune! Jaune! Jaune! **Jaune**!" The last cheer shook the world, confusing Jaune.

"**Jaune!**" Jaune stumbled back, startled, as the world broke.

Darkness swallowed Jaune.

* * *

"Jaune!"

A blond boy woke with a scream, and fell off his bed.

"Finally awake are you? Did you stay up all night?" A voice asked.

"Uh..." Jaune muttered half asleep as he sat up, before reality kicked in. "Oh, good morning Saph." He said, with a wave and a smile, to his older sister, Saphron Arc.

"Don't 'good morning' me." Saphron made finger quotes and spoke tightly. "It's almost ten, and you're still in bed."

Jaune looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand, it read '9:52', but then his mind remembered something. "But today's Sunday." He said, as if it answered and explained everything in the universe.

Saphron looked down at Jaune, unimpressed. "Yeah, it's Sunday, all the more reason to get up earlier, we leave at ten."

"Mom said that if we weren't ready, we would get left behind, that's my plan." Jaune explained as he got off the floor.

Saphron sighed. "You know we won't bring you back any ice cream, right?"

Jaune looked his sister straight in the eyes, his face took on a serious expression. "'Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.'" He quoted, and ignored his sister confused face. "I may be missing out, but that just means someone else would get to enjoy a treat. I've thought long and hard about this, I no longer consider ice cream to be a fair price."

"It wasn't a price." Saphron sighed again. "And Mom said that to encourage you guys, I doubt she'll really leave without everyone."

"Oh." Jaune said, he sat on his bed in silence. "I still don't want to go." He said after a minute.

"Why not?" Saphron asked.

Jaune hesitated before answering. "I-I don't believe in the Church."

"...Jaune." Saphron started after a pause, but didn't continue.

Jaune flopped backwards on his bed, he stared at the ceiling. "I only went because it made Mom and Dad happy." Jaune said.

"Jaune, everyone has doubts." Saphron's voice lacked conviction.

"I never believed." Jaune admitted. "I know our family has always followed the Church since our ancestor joined a war because they heard The Voice, but I never believed." Jaune took a deep breath and held it for a second. "I don't want to tell our parents, I was planning on never telling them, it would only worry them. They would think I wouldn't join them in the afterlife, and that my soul would be stolen after I die."

Saphron took a seat next to Jaune and wiped the tears, that had begun to form on her brother's face, away. "Don't worry Jaune, I'm sure Mom and Dad could handle it. Besides, these thoughts are too heavy for a kid like you to be thinking, so stop it, 'kay?" She asked with a warm smile.

Jaune smiled back and sat back up. "Fine, I won't think about it."

"Thanks." Saphron said as she got off his bed and walked to his door. "I'll tell them you weren't feeling good, but you should tell them the truth when we get back, okay Jaune?"

"Yeah, I will, and thanks."

"Goodbye Jaune." Saphron said and left.

Jaune remained in bed, he only found the courage to get up, when he heard a car pull out the driveway.

Jaune kept his mind off the topic of telling his parents, he went through his morning routine as if nothing was happening.

He showered, got dressed in fresh clothes, put on his necklace, and ate his cold breakfast in silence, it unnerved him to no end.

In the silence, his mind roamed.

He hadn't told Saphron the whole truth.

He did believe in Gods, just not the two that his family believed in.

He didn't believe in the Wonderful Wizard and the Wicked Witch. Who the Church claimed to govern Life and Death, Our Souls and The Grimm.

There was a bunch of stuff the Church claimed.

That the Grimm were lost Souls who were denied access to the Afterlife, now they roamed the ground.

Or that there were four children of the 'Gods' that controlled the seasons.

The one that had ties with the Arc family, was The Voice. That if you were a true believer, The Wizard would speak to you and only you could hear them, then he would guide you to a better future.

Of course, the Witch was also capable of doing this, so if you heard her voice, the only way to save your Soul was to burn her out of your Body, it killed you, but you Soul was sent the Afterlife.

Those weren't the Gods Jaune believed in, he found his Gods in a fairytale.

The book was old, and supposedly only existed to teach kids the importance of balance and compromise.

It was called: The Tale of Two Brothers.

It was about Two Gods that built and shaped the world, one would make something, and the other would make the opposite. Day and Night, Animals and Grimm, Nature and Fire, Life and Death, and so on, until they made Humans and The Faunus.

When Jaune first heard this story in school as a kid, it stuck with him.

Jaune knew he wasn't the only person to believe in this fairytale, but unlike others, he had a problem with the interpretation most people had.

They believed the God of Light was Good and the God of Darkness was Evil.

Jaune imagined something different.

He believed the God of Darkness was just unlucky.

If both Gods made the world from nothing, then that was Darkness, Light came after.

And Light decided to create stuff, Darkness didn't want to completely destroy his brother's work, so he just created the opposite.

And that was a good thing, Jaune couldn't imagine a nightless world overrun by nature, where animals lived forever.

Plus, without Darkness, Humans and Faunus wouldn't exist.

Jaune believed in The Two Gods, but he always pictured Darkness to be the responsible Brother.

He definitely could tell his parents he didn't believe in their Gods, but instead he believed in a God of Darkness and his Brother.

Jaune mentally sighed as he washed the dishes, he decided to put his problem on hold.

Jaune started doing chores, his family wouldn't be back until three, and he was bored.

So, Jaune did the rest of the dishes, then he started on laundry, then he swept and mopped, then he took out the trash, then he vacuumed, then he dusted the walls, then he did the lawn, then he did whatever else he could think of.

Jaune finished at noon-ish, he had ran out of stuff to clean, so he took a break and ate an apple.

Jaune rested on the couch for thirty minutes, he was reading an old comics, but stopped on a page.

It showed a villain being punted through a house, each panel was a different room, the first was an attic.

That gave Jaune an idea, he hadn't cleaned the attic.

Jaune got off his butt and walked to the hallway, where the entrance to the attic was.

It was the kind with a retractable ladder, but it didn't have a string, no it had a handle. Jaune had to jump to reach it.

The attic was dusty, but that didn't stop Jaune, he opened the two windows to let air in and the dust out and went about cleaning.

Jaune started by moving everything to one side, which took thirty minutes, then he swept the empty spot before moving some stuff back.

While cleaning, Jaune found a few things that almost made him abandon his job, interesting things and toys.

But Jaune held strong, and told himself he could play after he was done.

Jaune finished at two, he was exhausted, but proud of his work, and glad his family didn't store heavy things in the attic, even now, his twelve year old arms were sore.

Jaune collapsed on the empty side of the attic, his breathing was harsh, he decided he would take a short nap.

Before Jaune could drift off, his head fell over, and he saw something odd in the wall.

A small discolored and rectangular part of the wall was dislodged, it was at floor level and in the corner, hidden by a support beam.

Jaune found himself drawn to it, he knew he wouldn't be able to rest unless he satisfied his curiosity.

Jaune crawl over to the wall, he felt the rectangle, it was wobbly, but stuck.

He struggled to get a grip on it, he almost quit when a broken piece of wood cut his finger, but when he managed To grip it, he pulled, it didn't come out. Jaune kept trying, eventually, he pressed his foot against the wall for leverage.

When it finally came loose, Jaune was sent tumbling backwards. "Ow, you better be worth this pain." He grumbled as he searched the floor for the rectangle.

Jaune found a wooden box, one side was spotted with fresh blood.

He guessed the rectangle was just the visible part.

Jaune picked up the box, he examined it from all directions, but couldn't find a seam.

He shook the box, something thumped against the sides, but Jaune didn't know how to open in.

He was close to just grabbing a sharp object and cutting it in half, when he found a seam.

It was smaller than a coin slot, and was on the opposite side of the side that was sticking out the wall.

Jaune was too lazy to get up and find a screwdriver, so he improvised, Jaune used the edge of his necklace.

Jaune necklace was a circle with five points coming out the edges, the base was a silver stone and was surrounded by gold, two golden arcs crossed the stone. Jaune had found it when he was a toddler, and, according to his parents, never took it off for more than an hour.

Jaune stabbed a point into the gap, and tried to pry the box open, but no matter how hard he tried it wouldn't open.

Jaune strained his tired body. "Darn it! Open already!" He grumbled through clenched teeth.

A sigh of relief escaped his mouth as the box snapped open, the top coming off clean.

Jaune's sigh of relief turned to one of exasperation when he saw a small book in the box.

"What did you expect?" Jaune asked himself. "I don't know man, I was caught up in the mystery of it all." He answered.

Jaune picked the book up, it was black and blank, the only thing on the cover were two golden arcs, and the edges of the book was lined with silver.

Jaune was hopeful the book would be an interesting read, if nothing else. He tried to open the book, but it was stuck.

"Of course!" Jaune shouted, he was frustrated. "First you were stuck in the wall, then in a box, now the you won't even open!"

Jaune grabbed the book with his right hand and raised it in the air, he was planning on throwing till it opened, what he was planning on was cutting himself on the silver edges.

Jaune yelped out in pain and clutched his hand with his other hand in a panic.

He released his hand to see how severe his wound was, he expected to find a sliced flesh and blood, but his hand was uninjured.

"Wha?" Jaune doubled checked, but couldn't find an injury. He turned around to find the book to see if it had blood on it.

He found the book lying on the floor, opened to the first page.

Jaune bent over to pick it up, he took a seat on a box and read the first page, his supposed injury forgotten.

* * *

I was Jeanne Arc, I am a Witch and this is my Grimoire.

* * *

_Was? A Witch? Grimoire?_

Questions raced through Jaune's head, but he kept reading.

* * *

If you are reading this, I am dead.

If you are an Arc, then congratulations, you are now the owner of my Grimoire.

* * *

_I'm the owner __now?_

* * *

If you are 'him' and you found my Book then spilled the blood of an Arc on it, then, fuck off you parasite!

* * *

Jaune wondered who and what she was talking about.

* * *

Ignore the last part if it doesn't apply to you.

Ah, where to begin?

I know, I'll explain the first line.

My Birth Name was Jeanne Arc, I was the twin sister of Joanne Arc.

* * *

_Birth Name? She had a __twin?_

* * *

Since I'm dead, I'll even tell you my Magic Name it was La Sorcière. Don't worry I'll explain this later.

I was disowned by my family when I fucked up, my sister had claimed to hear a voice, it wanted to her to fight in a war. We were thirteen year old twins, everything we did was a competition, so, not wanting her to win. I claimed to hear a voice too.

* * *

_A voice spoke to an Arc? Is this a coincidence? Or was this the story of The __Voice?_

* * *

That was why, the how is another story.

A 'Witch' is a female magic user, but to a certain group of people, there is only one Witch, and she controls the Grimm.

Through brutal trial and error, I learned magic. Then I was called a Witch, that meant I had to die.

See we have this funny thing, where if a peasant woman does something extraordinarily, they get called a Witch and are burned at the stake, alive. My case was justified, but still.

On to the next word, hope you're keeping up.

A Grimoire is just a fancy way of saying 'Magic Book.'

A Magic Book is a simply a Book with magic either on it, or in it, sometimes both.

This Grimoire was mine, I wrote down all my Magic Knowledge in here, I had Enchanted the book to only be opened by the blood of an Arc.

I had intended that to mean by someone with the blood of an Arc flowing through them, but it came out literally. I compensated by adding a Curse on this Book, now any injuries done by this book are reversed after a second.

* * *

_She could Enchant and Curse things? Was that why my hand was healed?_

* * *

Oh, that bit probably confused you.

Enchanted? Curse? I wrote all my Knowledge down, but I wrote that I wrote it in the beginning?

Well, flip through the pages.

* * *

Jaune flipped through ten pages, all of them were blank. When he stopped, text suddenly appeared.

* * *

This Grimoire is also Enchanted to be extra helpful, you probably hadn't noticed, but you haven't needed to flip the pages while you read.

Since learning magic is dangerous, I didn't want some novice to try something that would kill them.

Pages and Chapters are restricted, until you've proven capable of handling them.

I hoped to pass on my Knowledge, I know you can learn, the box this Book was in was locked by Magic.

* * *

_It __was?_

* * *

Since this is now your Grimoire, you're allowed to alter it, once you've proven yourself capable.

How do you prove yourself?

Easy, step one: flow your magic into this book.

* * *

What? How did he do that?

* * *

No magic? Do you need time to try again or is there another reason?

Write down your answer, or Flip the page if there is another reason.

* * *

Jaune flipped the page.

* * *

Are you capable of using magic?

Since you flipped, I'm assuming you don't have a writing utensil.

Flip the page once for yes, twice for no, and three times for you don't know.

* * *

Jaune flipped three times.

* * *

You don't know?

By the way, are you impressed with how far I thought ahead?

Seriously, I haven't slept once in the ten years since I started writing in this Book.

* * *

_It's pretty neat._

* * *

Did someone else open this book for you?

One flip for yes. Two for no. Three for you don't know.

* * *

Two.

* * *

You opened it yourself?

I'm expecting you to know this stuff.

Are you a Faunus? Flip the pages to answer.

Do you have a Magical Artifact? Press the Artifact against the Page.

* * *

Jaune was pretty sure he wasn't a Faunus, not that he knew why that mattered.

And the only thing he had that could be called an artifact was his necklace.

Jaune pressed his necklace against the Page, he took a moment to appreciate the weirdness in his situation.

* * *

Ooh, Charged Lunar Stone and Imbued Gold, Nice.

* * *

Jaune didn't know what his necklace was made of, it was nice to know, even if he didn't understand.

* * *

Yeah, okay, I'll give you one chance.

You can put this Book back, all the Magic will lock it, you just put the parts back together.

Or, I'll tell you how to unlock your Magic, but know that the price is high.

You'll likely regret your choice either way.

Which is why I'm not giving you the choice, a Spell will force you to put the Book back, if you really want to learn Magic. You'll resist.

Don't worry, it's painless, and you'll forget all this even happened.

* * *

Jaune felt numb all over his body as something washed over his brain.

**_..._**

**_..._**

"Jaune?" A voice roused Jaune from his nap, he turned to face the voice.

"Sup Dad." Jaune responded.

"We noticed the house was clean, and your sisters told me you were up here." Jaune's Dad spoke as he sat next to his son. "What do you want? Or what have you done?" His father asked teasingly.

Jaune took a moment to gather himself, his mind slowly backtracking his day.

He took a nap after cleaning the attic, because he already cleaned everything else, and he did that so he wouldn't think about telling his parents he didn't believe in their Gods. Jaune sighed. "Actually, I need to tell you and Mom something important." He wouldn't tell them the full truth either, but hopefully half would be enough.


End file.
